Kayoko Yamamoto

By Kayoko Yamamoto and Zhaoxin Yang

The present study aims to use atmospheric dispersion models and geographical information system (GIS) to make estimations of the trajectory of PM2.5 (particulate matter) discharged from specific generation sources, by grasping the atmospheric concentration within the Tokyo metropolitan area in Japan. It is expected that such estimation results should contribute to the risk assessment concerning the influences of PM2.5 on human health and ecosystem. Using ADMER in the first stage, estimations of the atmospheric concentration distribution of PM2.5 throughout the entire Tokyo metropolitan area from 2009 to 2014 were conducted. As a result, areas with high atmospheric concentration of PM2.5 focused in the same area each year, and it was revealed that the entire Tokyo and Saitama had high atmospheric concentrations. Additionally, as a result of setting Tokyo the detail estimation range, it was grasped that the atmospheric concentrations are high in Shinjuku ward and Tachikawa city in Tokyo. Based on the results in the first stage, using METI-LIS in the second stage, estimations of the trajectory of PM2.5 discharged from specific generation sources were conducted in Tachikawa city. As a result, it was made clear that PM2.5 had spread within 500 m of the specific generation sources, and the atmospheric concentrations were intensively high.

Part of the book: Risk Assessment

By Kana Naitou and Kayoko Yamamoto

In Japan, the central government started the promotion of citizens’ health by self-supervision in 2000, and walking is recently recognized as the most popular sport for many generations. Based on this background, the present study aimed to design, develop, operate, and evaluate a walking support system, which takes into account the users’ circumstances (each user’s health conditions, needs, and preferences). The system was developed by integrating Web-GIS (geographic information systems) as a base system and social networking services (SNS) as well as a registration system of walking information into a single system. Additionally, the system was operated for 5 weeks in Chofu City in Tokyo Metropolis, Japan, and the total number of users was 73. Based on the results of the Web questionnaire survey, the usefulness of the system when selecting a walking course was high, and the further use of each function can be expected by the continuous operation of the system. From the results of access analysis of users’ log data, it is evident that the system has been used by two types of information terminals approximately in the same way, and that the entire system has been used according to the purpose of the present study, which is to effectively support the users’ walking.

Part of the book: Advances in Human and Machine Navigation Systems

By Koya Tsukahara and Kayoko Yamamoto

Recently, in Japan, the increase of aging population is especially rapid, the lack of nursing facilities has become a serious social issue, and the political measures against it are continuously enacted. Though the number of nursing facilities and its capacity are increasing, the utilization rate of such facilities remains at the same level, and the lack of facilities has not improved. Based on the background mentioned above, using geographic information systems (GIS) and public open data, the present study aims to quantitatively evaluate the current situation of nursing facility locations in urban areas within Japan. In the present study, the model of the p-median problem used to obtain the optimal location of facilities was modified, and a method to evaluate the current situation concerning the shortage or overage of nursing facilities by area was proposed. As evaluations are conducted using quantitative data, the evaluation results are also quantitative, making it an effective indicator for evaluating the locations of nursing facilities. Additionally, the specialization coefficient of the population aging rate and the distance between nursing facilities and areas were calculated based on public open data. Therefore, the evaluation method has a high temporal reproducibility as well as spatial reproducibility.

Part of the book: Geographic Information Systems and Science